ASIA TODAY Indian billionaire Adani, accused of fraud in the US

Today’s news: Murdered with cyanide: death sentence for a 36-year-old Thai woman. North Korea and Russia strengthen economic ties, starting with tourism. Jimmi Lai in the national security trial: he “never” influenced Hong Kong politics with foreign contacts.

INDIA-UNITED STATES

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been formally charged with fraud in the United States. The documents filed yesterday in New York allege that Adani – a tycoon very close to Prime Minister Modi – and other top executives arranged payments to Indian officials in order to obtain contracts for his renewable energy company that are expected to bring him more than 2 billion of dollars of benefits in 20 years. Prosecutors accuse Adani of obtaining $3 billion in loans and bonds, including from U.S. companies, based on false and misleading statements about the company’s anti-corruption practices and policies. The shares of the Adani group companies are suffering a wave of sales on the stock market, and the group has lost some 30 billion dollars in capitalization in a few hours.

THAILAND

A woman has been sentenced to death in Thailand in the first of a series of cases in which she is accused of killing 14 friends with cyanide. The Bangkok court found Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, 36, guilty of putting poison in a wealthy friend’s food and drink while they were traveling last year. The friend’s relatives refused to accept that she had died of natural causes and the autopsy found traces of cyanide in her body.

NORTH KOREA – RUSSIA

North Korea and Russia sign a cooperation protocol after a meeting in Pyongyang on trade, economy, science and technology, North Korean state media KCNA reported. The report contains few details, but Russia’s TASS news agency said Tuesday that the countries agreed to increase flights. Between January and September, more than 5,000 people traveled between Russia and North Korea, more than 70% of them by plane.

PHILIPPINES – INDONESIA

A Filipino woman who escaped execution in Indonesia on drug trafficking charges in 2015 will return to her homeland after years of negotiations between its Southeast Asian neighbors. Mary Jane Veloso was arrested in the city of Yogyakarta for carrying 2.6 kg of heroin hidden in a suitcase in 2010. “In the end, the goal is not only to transport her, but also to obtain clemency from our president,” the official said. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Eduardo José de Vega at a press conference in Manila, the capital.

ISRAEL – GAZA – USA

The Israeli forces bomb northern Gaza again, killing 88 Palestinians in two waves of attacks in Beit Lahiya and the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City. Meanwhile, the US Senate rejects bill aimed at blocking US arms sales to Israel in the context of the aggression against Gaza, a result that, according to rights advocates, does not detract from the growing pressure for aid to Washington’s main ally.

GEORGIA

Georgian special forces cleared the tent area that protesters had gathered in the center of Tbilisi to protest against the parliamentary elections, using water jets and pepper spray and arresting several people, destroying the camera of a television channel cameraman Mtavari and detaining other journalists, one of the injured is hospitalized.

TURKMENISTAN – UZBEKISTAN

At the Dashoguz-Šabat border crossing in Turkmenistan, problems have arisen again for Turkmen citizens who intend to travel to Uzbekistan to visit their relatives abroad, and also for small businessmen working between the two countries, all of them subjected to extraordinary document controls for alleged irregularities in the work of emigrants.